Whose Pronoun Is It Anyway?

Let’s continue on in the same vein as last time and look at the pronouns who/whom/whose since you guys switch those up all the time. They’re so easy, I promise.

The thing about pronouns is that they take the place of a noun. You’re probably familiar with the words he/she/they, him/her/them, and his/hers/theirs. You would use these words instead of a person’s name.

He likes summer.

The book belongs to him.

His hair is brown.

You write the above sentences when you know the person’s identity. But when you don’t know them, you have to turn these statements into questions.

Who likes summer?

The book belongs to whom?

Whose hair is brown?

The placement of these words is not random. In the case of the words who, whom, or whose, they each have a direct corresponding pronoun.

Who=He

Whom=Him

Whose=His

See what each word ends with? A vowel matches with a vowel, the letter “m” matches with “m,” and the letter “s” matches with “s.”

When you’re using who/whom/whose, it’s usually because you’re asking a question. So if you’re confused about which one to use, simply answer the question. And remember to pair vowels and the letters “m” and “s.”

Who wants dinner? He wants dinner.

To whom are you giving that present? I am giving that present to him.

Whose house is that? The house is his.

I’m sure you’ve noticed that this doesn’t quite work for some of the other pronouns, notably the feminine form, since her is the parallel to whom, yet it doesn’t end with an ‘m’. All these grammar tricks aren’t going to be perfect, but they will hopefully help you until you can do it without even thinking about it.